Determining COVID-19 Leaves of Absence: A Guide for New York City Employers

New York City employers that are continuing, expanding or restarting operations during the COVID-19 pandemic face a complicated array of questions regarding employee leave requests related to the outbreak.

This helpful flowchart (which can be downloaded by clicking on the image at the right) applies to New York City employers with fewer than 500 workers and covers leave requests through the end of 2020. It is designed to help businesses navigate the web of intersecting city, state and federal leave laws and regulations such as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the New York State COVID-19 Quarantine Leave Law and the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act.

Employees may request leave for a wide variety of reasons associated with the outbreak, including a lack of child care related to mandatory closings, misgivings about returning to work, the need to care for a sick or quarantined family member, to seek medical care or testing related to their own symptoms or because they need to quarantine at the direction of a health care provider.

Our flowchart can be a helpful, at-a-glance resource for determining an employer's leave obligations in these and other situations.